144 



THE GAME BREEDER 



where. There are, also, many ruffed 

 grouse and rabbits and some of the clubs 

 have deer. 



Deer Shooting. 



It seemed a pity to put an end to the 

 free shooting of deer on Long Island, 

 but it was quite necessary to do so. The 

 death rate of the free shooters and by- 

 standers was growing and promised to 

 exceed that of the quarry so that there 

 was no alternative. Populous farming 

 regions are not proper places for deer. 



Quail Eggs Profitable. 



Experiments made by the Massachu- 

 setts ^commissioners, by the Audubon 

 Association, the Long Island Game 

 Breeders Association and other game 

 shooting clubs and game farmers all 

 prove that penned quail lay numerous 

 eggs. As many as one hundred eggs 

 have been laid by a hen quail in cap- 

 tivity but the average at the Sandwich 

 bird farm, according to the last report, 

 was 22+. A better average than this 

 has been obtained by other breeders. 



Quail eggs sell readily for four or 

 five dollars per dozen and better prices 

 have been obtained for small lots. The 

 price for adult quail is now from $18 

 to $24 per dozen. Gambels quail and 

 Scaled quail sell readily for $15 per 

 dozen. 



It is evident that if a $2 bird will pro- 

 duce a dozen eggs worth four or five dol- 

 lars and some additional eggs, which can 

 be hatched by bantams or by quail, that 

 the breeding of quail is a highly profit- 

 able industry. 



The birds are smaller eaters than 

 pheasants, duck and other game birds, 

 and they thrive in much smaller en- 

 closures than those required for pheas- 

 ants. Many quail can be reared in a 

 garden. 



There is a bigger demand for quail 

 and quail eggs than for any other game 

 birds or eggs ; a breeder will always 

 have more orders than he can fill. 



The California valley and mountain 

 quail are as profitable as the others, and 



the Mearns or Massena quail will be 

 even more so as soon as stock birds can 

 be procured. This will not be very long. 

 We expect soon to be able to inform 

 readers of The Game Breeder where 

 they can purchase the interesting spotted 

 quail which we are sure will become pop- 

 ular both as aviary and sporting birds, 

 provided the experiments with these 

 birds indicate that they can be acclima- 

 tized in the northern states. We feel 

 sure they will do well in the south and,, 

 of course, they will thrive in Texas, 

 New Mexico and Arizona, where they 

 formerly occurred in good numbers. 

 Some of our southwestern members have 

 a rare opportunity to make a big lot of 

 money breeding quail. 



The Breeding Season. 



All game breeders take much interest 

 in the weather reports during the breed- 

 ing season. Wild ducks, the easiest 

 game birds to raise, do not mind the 

 rain after they are a few weeks old and 

 hand-reared birds can be shut up during 

 cold rain and hail storms which are 

 most disastrous to all young birds. 



Pheasants can be confined in their 

 coops part of the time at least during 

 cold rainy weather and they can be lib- 

 erated between showers. They will 

 thrive better if the weather be fine with 

 only occasional summer showers which 

 keep the young grass green and which- 

 seem to bring out more insects. 



Wild nesting partridges in the older 

 countries and our quail and grouse in 

 America are affected more by the weath- 

 er than the oheasants and ducks. Long 

 cold rains just at the time the young 

 ouail and grouse are hatched decimate 

 the broods and exterminate many of 

 them. This accounts for many broods of 

 very small- birds at the opening of the 

 shootinsr since the quail often nest a sec- 

 ond time when the first brood is de- 

 stroyed. 



Quail were nesting abundantly and' 

 were just hatching their young broods 

 on the preserve of the Long Island As- 

 sociation when a rain storm came which- 



